Sermons from Good News: the Importance of Palm Sunday, Part 2

Sermon message, continued from the previous post:

Palm Sunday. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, and it ends with Resurrection Sunday.

The question: what is so important about Palm Sunday?

Thesis: the answer to the above question.

Palm Sunday was during the Passover. The Jews knew they were supposed to get a lamb without blemish. They were still offering sacrifices at that time. The Passover happens when Jesus rides into Jerusalem, on the day the Jews were supposed to offer their lambs to God (i.e. The priests).

Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
1 Corinthians 5:7 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=1%20Corinthians%205:7&version=NIV

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
John 1:29 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=John%201:29&version=NIV

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Matthew 21:6-11 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Matthew%2021:6-11&version=NIV

The palm leaves = the leaves Adam and Eve used to try to cover their sins = the leaves, along with the garments, that were thrown on the ground when Jesus rode in on a colt.

28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Matthew 26:28 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Matthew%2026:28&version=NIV

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
Romans 5:9 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Romans%205:9&version=NIV

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
Ephesians 1:7 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Ephesians%201:7&version=NIV

and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Colossians 1:20 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Colossians%201:20&version=NIV

And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.
Hebrews 13:12 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Hebrews%2013:12&version=NIV

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
1 Peter 1:18-19 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=1%20Peter%201:18-19&version=NIV

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1 John 1:7 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=1%20John%201:7&version=NIV

and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
Revelation 1:5 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Revelation%201:5&version=NIV

Jesus knew about everything: the Bible history, the symbolism of the sacrificial lamb, the Passover, and everything else. And He still went and died for our sins.

God makes a way when we can't but He doesn't stop there. God gives us pictures in the Bible to remind us.

Jesus wants us to know that God wants a relationship with us, not just to do away with sin but also to have fellowship with us.

Palm Sunday tells us that God wants to have a real relationship with you.

Garments don't cover our sin.

Leaves don't cover our sin.

Religion doesn't cover our sin. Don't let the religious leaders keep you from having a relationship with God for yourself.

Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Matthew 21:12-13 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Matthew%2021:12-13&version=NIV

Equivalent of Roman Catholic "indulgences."

The money changers would steal from customers. To buy anything at the temple in Jerusalem, you had to change your currency to temple currency. So the exchange regularly involved the money changers giving back less in temple money than what the customers had given them.

[[Another layer to this: pastor Tim didn't preach this, but I heard this a couple years ago at yet another church: the area where the tables were set up, including the money-changing table, that space was designated for non-Jews to be able to worship and pray to the God of Israel. But what had happened was that the temple leaders had driven out the non-Jews to make space for the sellers and money changers.]]

Bottom line, because of Jesus' blood sacrifice, a direct relationship with the Lord God Almighty has been made possible for anyone, both Jews and non-Jews. Only by accepting Christ's sacrifice and receiving Him as Lord and Savior can one's sin be truly covered.